Following our announcement regarding RCE there has been a flood of speculation as to what the region coding enhancement can and cannot do. These have varied from being a standard R0 blocker to all out intelligent DVD Player fooling logic.

We have been asked to further comment on the Enhancements even though we are at the end of the day just the messengers. We have not formally responded to the e-mails and forum messages because we wanted to learn more and also importantly get some confirmation on the discs. So here goes...

Firstly we know that the RCE Coding is not smart enough to fool players that can be manually set to a specific region code. So if you can set your region code to a particular region you should be OK. For example the Techtronics Multimod allows a Sony 725 to be set to any region by pressing the appropriate region number on the remote whilst the machine is on Standby. This type of Region Code setting should be fine. Most modern Players allow a firmware setting/handset hack of this kind. We have had The Patriot tested on a Sony SDP-7000 Multiregion and it played just fine.

Autodetecting Region Code methods such as the Budget mods in theory should be OK as they do not respond to the Disc until the Region Code has been read.

What does not work is the R0 setting. The discs positively refuse to play. An example of this has been posted on DVD Journal using the Apex 600a player forced to R0. With this setting the disc does not work. However forcing the firmware to R1 allows the disc to work.

If you have a R0 only machine then it is highly likely you will fall foul of these discs.

So what should you do? First and foremost there is no need to panic. This approach appears no more advanced than that used on MGM discs. It does appear to be a little bit more clever say along the lines of Jap Species 2 NTSC R2 but again if you can force the firmware of your player to a specific region you should be OK.

You shouldn't go importing a US Player, US PS2 or buying a new UK Player until you know for sure that the discs do not work. Even then a firmware upgrade is highly likely to be considerably cheaper than a new Machine.

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We think DVD-DEBATE has done a great job with the explanation, and they know more about this than we do. Keep on eye on this site for more on the story and how it affects you."

Hope this is of some help to all of you with multi-region DVD players!

Guest

Cheers guys- the aforementioned disks are not RCE anyway, thedigitalbits.com has stated quite emphatically that no disks currently carry RCE and that it is only in a testing phase (Warners are not even certain to carry RCE in future).

Guest

Oops- I would think that any problems encountered with these disk on players is simply a problem with the Mods used- as R0 players have had problems with disk before.

I quote from the Techtronics site (who should know if anyone does!):

"Code-free
Many early models can be upgraded so easily, that a drop of solder to bridge a certain capacitors and joints is all that is needed to turn it into the state of "code-free" - which will disable the region code settings. This kind of hobbyist upgrades work fine with older DVD titles, but reportedly they failed against the latest releases from Hollywood. "

Guest

You may have noticed a kerfuffle developing in recent days concerning a Regional Coding Enhanced system being developed by Warners for use on some of its new R1 titles, such as The Perfect Storm. But as we at HCC suspected from the start, this is now looking like it was largely a fuss about nothing - or at least, very little.

RCE works like this. When an RCE-equipped disc is put into a player, it asks the player if its a Region 1 player, then it asks it if its a region 2 player,and if the answer to both questions is yes, the disc wont play. So if your DVD player has had its regional coding address system removed, or can only be set to all-region (R0) playback, youre jiggered. But if your multi-region player is one where you can adjust the region to be just R1, youll be fine. Or if its multi-region modification is of the Techtronics autoswitching type where the player tells the disc whatever it wants to hear, you should also be fine. Certainly tests by the DVD Debate on The Perfect Storm using a Techtronics modified player revealed no problems.

So in fact RCE does nothing more sinister than protection systems used for ages by the likes of Disney and MGM. And all it means in practical terms is that people whose hacked players cant choose what region they need to be and so cant play Disney or MGM discs will now have to add new Warners films to the list of titles they cant buy. The rest of you can chill out - for the time being at least...